Friday, January 02, 2009

Centre sends experts to tackle tiger menace

Lucknow : As two stray tigers continue to give the state forest officials a tough time, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) decided on Thursday to send its experts to Lucknow.

The experts will assess the scenario and look for a solution on the basis of their field experience. The move comes after a second stray tiger was sighted in Ghazipur district on Wednesday. The NTCA has been entrusted with the task of executing the Tiger Project in the country.

The team will arrive in the next few days and meet the forest department officials to take a stock of the situation. “The state government was seeking our help so that our officials would visit the area and tackle the situation,” said a senior NTCA official.

According to the NTCA officials, the Ghazipur tiger could have strayed either from the Palamau Tiger reserve area in Jharkhand or from Sanjay Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

“The possibility of tiger straying from the Palamau sanctuary is more as it has a higher tiger population,” said Rajesh Gopal, NTCA Member Secretary.

Such incidents are not regular in the area and can be taken as an indicator that the forest reserves need protection. “The deteriorating condition of the forest area is one of the main reasons behind the tigers straying,” Gopal added.

Experts further said that increasing human encroachment and activities like illegal mining and Naxalite movement in the Palamau Tiger Reserve had led to the disturbance in the tiger habitat.

“Increasing disturbance forces the tiger to move out of its area in search of a healthy habitat and in the process such incidents does take place,” said Gopal.